Lionsgate, Saban Align with Celestial for Asian JV

HONG KONG: Lionsgate and Saban Capital Group are aligning with Hong Kong-based Celestial Pictures for a new Asian joint venture that will encompass a bouquet of pay-TV channels, including Celestial Movies, KIX and Thrill.

Saban and Lionsgate have been partners in Tiger Gate Entertainment, the venture rolling out the KIX, KIX HD and Thrill channels, since 2010. The new outfit, Celestial Tiger Entertainment (CTE), will encompass those three channels as well as Celestial Movies, Celestial Classic Movies and Celestial Movies On Demand. CTE envisions the launch of new channels—both generated in house and acquired. The venture will also see CTE licensing content from Celestial Pictures—home to the legendary Shaw Brothers library—for its channels. Plus, CTE will also be the exclusive sales agent for all of Lionsgate’s content in Southeast Asia and China.

Jon Feltheimer, Lionsgate’s co-chairman and CEO, noted, "Celestial Tiger Entertainment blends the complementary strengths and skill sets of three companies well positioned to capitalize on opportunities in the Asian filmed entertainment and pay TV marketplace and allows us to enrich our pipeline of content and extend our distribution footprint throughout the region."

"Combining our channel bouquet with Tiger Gate’s channel offerings will create a powerful collection of unique brands with distinctive programming specifically catering to Asian markets," said Ross Pollack, CEO of Celestial Pictures. "Coupled with the synergies in operations and new content creation for the channels, I am confident that Celestial Tiger Entertainment will create more value for all of the partners involved. We are also pleased to partner with such distinguished and successful companies as Saban Capital Group and Lionsgate."

Adam Chesnoff, president and COO of Saban Capital Group, added: "Our investment in this new partnership with both Celestial Pictures and Lionsgate further supports our commitment to the media and entertainment space in Asia. We are pleased to expand our relationship with Lionsgate and to create a new strategic alliance with Celestial Pictures. We are very excited about Celestial Tiger Entertainment’s prospects to build a leading position in channel distribution, content distribution and content creation across Asia."

Celestial Tiger Entertainment will be headquartered in Hong Kong and will include staff from both Celestial Movies Channels and Tiger Gate.